Congress plans to engage Priyanka to mobilise women voters in Bihar

Patna: Leaving nothing to chance, the Congress is devising methods to make significant gains in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections where it did not perform well in the past over three decades.After the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi’s “Voter Adhikar Yatra”, the Congress has now planned to engage his sister and Wayanad MP, Priyanka Gandhi, in the assembly poll campaign in the state to reap political gains.Informed sources said the top party leadership is working on the plan to actively engage her in the Bihar poll campaign this time. They added the party is also planning to organise a big rally for her, hoping her increased engagement in the state would mobilise the women voters who were found instrumental in deciding the fate of the NDA govts in the state.“We all are working on her programmes for Bihar, but they have not been finalised yet,” a senior party leader told TOI on Wednesday, adding she could be in a lead role this time. Her presence in the state as part of the “Voter Adhikar Yatra” enthused the youth and women voters.State’s chief party spokesperson, Rajesh Rathorre, said on Wednesday, “The people see in her persona of late Indira Gandhi and want to see and hear her, as was noticed during the yatra.”

He added that her increased engagement with the Bihar voters could significantly mobilise the women voters in favour of the Congress in general and the opposition INDIA bloc in particular.Analysts said the Congress is compelled to engage Priyanka, keeping in view the women voters who, of late, were found outnumbering men in casting their votes at the polling stations. During the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, there were 167 assembly seats out of a total of 243 where the women voters outnumbered males, EC sources said.In the 2020 assembly elections, while the voting percentage of men was 54%, it was 60% for women, as per the report.This trend was even more evident in 2015 when women voted more than men in 202 seats, with north Bihar becoming the centre of the growing influence of women voters. The change began in 2010, which was a turning point in Bihar’s gender voting landscape, as that year, the women voting percentage exceeded men’s in 162 constituencies, as per the available records.